Greek islands set to sell sunshine

Archimedes: October 2011

Greece could be set to sell its holiday sunshine in a bid to clear the country's multi-billion euro debt mountain.

The Helios project, named after the ancient sun god, aims to erect enough solar panel across the country to create 10 gigawatts of solar power. Greek holiday sunshine energy could then be sold to Greece's north European neighbours such as Germany and the UK.

Not only will the sunshine sell-off raise an estimated €15 billion to help Greece's beleaguered economy it could also help north European countries to meet strict EU targets for power sourced from renewable energy.

Greece hopes to secure a framework agreement with European partners for the project by the end of the year and to be turning out 10 gigawatts of clean energy by 2050.

Despite up to 13 hours of summer sunshine daily across Greece and the Greek Islands, large scale solar panel projects have been slow to develop in Greece.

However, in January, Greece announced plans to build a 200 megawatt solar park in northern Greece.

The latest plan could create jobs by harvesting Greece's abundant sunshine and shipping it to Germany, which is committed to moving away from nuclear power. following the recent nuclear disaster in Japan.

The Helios project could help breathe life the Greek economy while helping Germany prepare for a clean energy future.